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Published : 26 Feb 2026, 01:46 PM
A Dhaka court has directed authorities to initiate steps to request an Interpol red notice for British MP Tulip Siddiq over allegations of acquiring a flat in Gulshan as a “bribe”.
Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Sabbir Faiz passed the order on Wednesday.
Riaz Hossain, the court’s bench assistant, confirmed that the investigating officer ACC Assistant Director AKM Mortuza Ali Sagar petitioned for the red notice.
The directive follows an arrest warrant in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over an allegedly illegal flat in Gulshan-2, one of Dhaka’s diplomatic zones.
The ACC claims that Tulip acquired the property unlawfully during the tenure of her aunt, ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
According to the application, the 43-year-old politician facilitated Eastern Housing Limited in constructing a multi-storey building on a non-transferable plot and selling the units as apartments.
In return, she allegedly received one of the flats from the real estate company as a “bribe”.
The ACC said Tulip left the country before the case was lodged, and attempted to destroy evidence related to the investigation.
Her arrest is therefore necessary, the application said, adding that as she is currently abroad, a red notice is required to secure her detention.
Tulip, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate in London, was previously convicted in a separate corruption-related case in Bangladesh.
The graft watchdog filed the case on Apr 15 last year against Tulip, alongside former RAJUK assistant legal advisors Shah Md Khosruzzaman and Sardar Mosharraf Hossain.
The ACC said in 1963, the then chief justice Imam Hossain Choudhury was allotted a plot measuring over 1 bigha, or 33 decimals in Gulshan (plot No. 11A and 11B at present).
Under the government's 99-year lease agreement, any transfer or sub-sale of the plot was prohibited.
In 1973, however, Imam transferred the plot to Md Mojibur Rahman Bhuiyan by public order. Mojibur then subdivided the plot and sold it to his wife Shamsun Nahar and sister-in-law Zarin Begum.
Later Nahar sold the plot to the daughters of Jahurul Islam, the founding chairman of Eastern Housing, Naeema Islam and Kanita Islam.
The two sisters gave their father Jahurul power of attorney to oversee construction on the site.
Jahurul then split up the plot in two and started work on a six-storey building, but he died before it was completed.
Later Naeema and Kanita nominated their brother Manjurul Islam to pass the power of attorney, but it was cancelled due to an internal family dispute.
Manjurul then took legal steps while the sisters also filed a case to get their ownership of the building back.
During the litigation, the sisters appealed to RAJUK seeking a prohibition on the transfer of flats.
According to the ACC, the then law advisors of RAJUK authorised the “unlawful” transfer of flats to Eastern Housing twice using “false information”, though the company was not the owner of the land.
It alleged the public administrator was appointed "with irregularity by abusing power" without complying with the conditions, and the plot was sold, divided, and transferred.
RAJUK summoned both parties in response to the application for the appointment of the chairman of Eastern Housing as an agent, but they failed to appear, and the agent was never approved, it said.
The case alleges that the plot was split into two, a building was erected on it, and 36 flats were sold or transferred.
The transfer of ownership of Eastern Housing from "an individual person" to a legal person, however, was "questionable", according to the ACC.
This is where Tulip enters the scene as the anti-graft watchdog says she facilitated the dividing and transferring of the 36 flats by breaching the rules.
Tulip received a flat “for free as an illegal gratuity” in exchange for the arrangement with Eastern Housing, ACC alleged citing an Eastern Housing letter as “evidence of unlawfully taking advantage”.
Tulip was fifth on the list among the flat owners sent to RAJUK by Eastern Housing. The ACC considered it “proof of Tulip illicitly using influence”.
Citing an Eastern Housing letter to the city corporation, the ACC said Tulip has been occupying the flat since May 19, 2001, when Hasina was in power, and the UK MP has been paying holding tax since.
On Feb 18, the court took cognisance of the chargesheet, issuing arrest warrants against Tulip and former RAJUK official Mosharraf.
Earlier, Tulip was sentenced to two years each in three separate cases over alleged irregularities in plot allocations in Purbachal, amounting to a total of six years in prison.
